Georgia Sports Communications/For Immediate Release
ATHENS—–The Georgia Bulldogs continued AutoZone Liberty Bowl preparations Tuesday, conducting a two-hour practice at the Club Sports Complex on Milledge Avenue.
Before the workout, Georgia coach Kirby Smart met with the media to discuss bowl practices and defending TCU as the Horned Frogs averaged 32 points a game this year.
“We’ve had four good days of fundamental work and a couple game-week related practices as part of our preparation,” said Smart. “We’ll have two more of those game-week sessions here and then we get to the bowl site, we’ll have three more practices. Our kids are excited; they’ve been working hard. We’ve done some work in the kicking game and the red (zone) area too.
“Our defense is going to have to go against some four and five-receiver sets and that puts you in pass rush mode,” Smart added. “The TCU offense presents some challenges that we’re not used to seeing. I know their quarterback (Kenny Hill) is a really good player, and I’ve seen him before. It’s more of a drop back offense, and the quarterback can run, but this is a different scheme.”
Smart added that he’s hopeful that sophomore linebacker Natrez Patrick will be able to play in the bowl game after he missed the final three games of the regular season due to an injury. Despite playing in only nine games, Patrick ranks second on the team in tackles with 55. Also of note, junior inside linebacker Reggie Carter has missed some practice time due to an injury.
“We do not have a lot of healthy inside linebackers, however there may only be one or two linebackers on the field when we play this type of offense,” Smart said.
Tuesday’s workout marked the seventh of eight scheduled practices Georgia will have in Athens before taking a brief break for the Christmas holiday. The team and staff will reconvene in Memphis, Tenn., on Christmas night and then practice at Rhodes College leading up to the Bulldogs’ matchup with TCU.
